


The Malcolm Effect

by BIurry_Face



Category: Jurassic Park - All Media Types
Genre: Adopted Children, Anxiety Attacks, Dinosaurs, F/M, Isla Nublar (Jurassic Park), Isla Sorna (Jurassic Park), Original Character(s), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Romance, dinosaur park, reupload
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2020-03-01 03:36:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18792184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BIurry_Face/pseuds/BIurry_Face
Summary: Riley Malcolm and her Decathlon group win a trip to the famous Jurassic World.





	1. SciTech

6:36 in the morning on the weekdays was always a hassle in the Malcolm household. It always started off as a battle for Ian or Sarah to wake up their sixteen-year-old daughter Riley. Riley, like her dad, was a night owl, she stayed up until 2:30 most nights, no matter what her mom says, it wasn’t a choice to stay up late it was how her mind and body was wired. Sarah always told her: “while that’s  _ technically  _ true, you still need to go to bed. You have school in the morning.” Alarm clocks never worked on Riley, that’s was a problem since they didn’t work on Ian either, Sarah was the only early bird in the house.

Ian knocked on Riley’s closed bedroom, hoping that she would hear her on the first round of knocks. Basically, the moment someone entered Riley’s bedroom and she was saw them, she would throw the nearest heavy object towards them. That, and it was extremely messy, it was impossible to find a clear path to walk across. He had his ear pressed up against the door, listening for an signs that Riley was awake. Nothing. He tried knocking again, a little harder this time.

“Riley! Wake up!” Ian tried again. Silence. He groaned before opening the door only a little bit. “Riley it-” It was quick, but he saw something being flung across the room towards the door, he quickly closed it, a loud  _ thud  _ from the door echoed through the hallway. “Y’know, uh, it’s not nice to throw things!” Ian called through the door.

“I don’t care!” Riley called back, causing her dad to roll his eyes and walk off into the kitchen.

Riley threw her legs over her bed, standing up and stretched. It was too early for this, being a Junior was too much work. She grabbed her clothes before going into the bathroom for her morning routine. She brushed her teeth, making sure the toothpaste around her mouth was extra foamy, since she liked to pretend that she had rabies, snarling into the mirror then laughed at herself for being so goofy. After she cleaned up her face, she stared at her dark features in the mirror before sticking out her tongue at herself. Riley got dressed in her usual attire; black skinny jeans, black socks, her black Converse that had purple laces on them, a black  _ Nintendo 64  _ logo t-shirt, two black and two purple jelly bracelets on each of her wrists. Sarah thought that it was astounding that Riley picked up so much from Ian, she was always a daddy’s girl.

“I’m hungry!” Riley announced as she began to walk down the short hallway, turning into the kitchen hoping to see her parents there making breakfast. Nope, nobody was in there. She slightly tilted her head to the side. Nobody was making her breakfast, but she noticed that the toaster was on and cooking something. The moment she looked in the toaster to see what it was, two Pop Tarts popped out, giving Riley a mini heart attack. These weren’t her Pop Tarts, they were her dad’s, who was in the living room right now and not paying attention to his food when he really should be. “I’m taking these,” Riley mumbled under her breath, pulling out a plate from the cabinet, dropping the hot pastries onto it.

Riley went into the second, smaller living room that they all called the “blue room” since both the carpet and the walls were painted blue. She pressed the Hulu button on the Smart TV’s remote, a part of her daily routine to unwind before she was off to school. She started to watch  _ Family Guy  _ as she began to eat the stolen Pop Tarts. From the blue room, Riley could hear her dad go into the kitchen, confused about where his breakfast went, eventually asking himself if he had actually made them or if it was his imagination.

“Did you, uh, take my Pop Tarts?” She could hear Ian ask her mom, who was now in the kitchen.

“No. I just got out of the bathroom.”

“I-I think you did.”

“I didn’t! You probably didn’t even make them yet.” After that statement, Sarah walked into the blue room. The first thing she noticed was Riley with her feet kicked up on the couch eating the Pop Tarts that Ian had just accused her of taking. “Ian!” She called to him, Riley didn’t even look up to see what was going on since she knew it was about the food she stole from him.

“Are you ready to admit that you took my-” He paused mid-sentence once he walked into the blue room seeing Sarah point at their daughter who was eating his food. He let out a dramatic gasp. “Thief!”

Riley held up her hand, still not looking at them. “Present.”

Even though she had been eating them, Ian took the Pop Tarts away from Riley so he could finish them. Riley held her arms out in a way that showed that she was confused over his actions.

“These are, uh, mine and I’m finishing them.” He plopped down on the old, dark recliner chair that was sitting at an angle of the couch, using his feet to slightly rock the chair as he began to eat. “We’re leaving as soon as I’m done.”

“How am I gonna eat if we’re leaving-”

“C’mon, Ri, I’ll get you some Eggos,” Sarah announced, motioning for Riley to follow her back into the kitchen.

Not even five minutes later, Ian walked into the kitchen with an empty plate, dumping it into the sink looking at his daughter. “Lets go.”

Riley looked up at him, her mouth full of Eggo waffles, back down at her plate, then back up to her dad. “We’re leaving as soon as I’m done,” Riley replied with a smile on her face. Ian rolled his eyes, stepping over to the small table that was sitting in the kitchen. He took the plate that still had half a waffle on it. “Hey! You can’t keep taking all my food! Why do you think I’m so skinny!”

“Chop chop, let’s get goin’.”

Riley rolled her eyes, standing up from the chair, grabbing the brown paper bag that Sarah filled with her lunch for school then her backpack that was next to the front door. She gave her mom and hug before walking out with Ian to his silver 2013 Hyundai Elantra. As soon as they got in, Riley hooked up her Galaxy S8 to the BlueTooth of the car, playing her “bitchin’ mixlist” that she always played every time they got into the car. The first song that played was: “Mr. Doctor Man” by Palaye Royale as they took off towards SciTech High School.

“How’s the Decathlon going?” Ian asked Riley as he was focusing on driving. “You, uh, you haven’t been talking about it that much.”

Riley shrugged, looking out the window then over to her dad. “It’s pretty good.”

“Remind me what the theme is again.”

“Science through 1961-2000’s.”

Ian chuckled. “That’s an unfair advantage for you guys. Since, uh, since science is totally your thing.”

Riley smiled, looking down at her phone that was sitting in her lap. “One more ‘till we get into the nationals.”

Ian patted her back. “I’m really proud of you guys. You all worked hard for this.”

“Thanks, Dad.”  

It was silent the rest of the ride. Ian pulled up to the front of the school, dropping Riley off like he did every day. She grabbed her phone, lunch and backpack as Ian got out of the car, walking over to the passengers side to open the door for his daughter.

“Have a good day, hun,” Ian said before kissing the top of Riley’s head after she got out of the car then ruffled her hair. He watched her go inside the school building before getting back into the driver’s seat and driving off back home.

Riley walked up the small set of concrete stairs that led up to the schools, from there, she saw her Physics teacher, Mr. Collins standing at the front door, standing against the front doors handing out flyers to the students that were going in.

“Here ya go, Ri,” Mr. Collins told her, handing her an orange piece of paper. In big, bold letters on the top read: ‘SCIENCE FAIR. MAY 24TH, 2018.’ “Dazzle us.”

Riley did a quick two finger salute before heading inside. She still had about a month left to try to figure out what she wanted to do for the science fair, but seeing the event actually on paper made her a bit anxious. It’s okay, she still had time. She went over to her red locker, putting in her combination then opened it. The first thing she did was hang up the flyer with a small magnet on the inside door to keep the science fair in mind. Riley put her lunch on the top shelf of her locker, closing it and locking it. Jacob Harris, a boy in her grade and also in her Decathlon group, walked up to her.

“H-Hi, Riley,” he said, holding onto his textbooks and his notebook.

“Hey, Jake. What’s up?” Riley readjusted her backpack straps on her shoulders.

“Not much.” Riley started walking to their first class, Current Events with Jake walking next to her. “Did you ever figure out what you were going to do for the science fair? I remember you saying you were having issues coming up with something.”

Riley shrugged. “I haven’t thought about it yet.” She stopped talking, thinking about something. “Wait, how do you remember that I was struggling? I told you that a few months ago?”

Jake couldn’t help but smile. “How do  _ you _  remember when you told me that?”

“ Touché.” Jake stepped ahead of her, holding the door open for his friend. “On the subject, did  _ you  _ figure what you wanted to do?”

“I’ve been thinking about doing research on ways to improve memory.”

“Huh… that’d be pretty neat,” Riley commented as she sat in her normal spot in the front of the classroom middle row with her feet kicked up on the desk. She unwrapped a piece of watermelon flavored gum as Jake got settled in at the desk next to her. “Let me know if you need a test subject, I’d be down for that.” Riley looked at the pack of gum that was now sitting on her desk. “Hm… Maybe I’ll, uh, do something about gum.”

“You’re addicted to gum. Maybe you could do it on concentration since people think that gum and concentration are related.”

“You may be a genius, Jake. You’re gonna be one of my guinea pigs.”

* * *

The bell rung, telling the school that class was now in session. Riley had a pen in one hand, her notebook sitting on her lap waiting for the class to start. Their teacher, Mr. Shaw walked in with a handful of books and papers stacked on one another.

Riley blew a bubble with her gum, watching Mr. Shaw drop his teaching material on his desk in front of the classroom. She imitated a buzzer sound, causing their teacher and classmates to look at her. “You’re late. Get your late pass,” she told him with a monotone voice.

“Ha ha, Ms. Malcolm. That gets funnier every time you say it,” Mr. Shaw replied sarcastically, causing Riley to smirk while chewing on the gum. “It’s Monday, class. You know what that means?”

“Medical Monday,” the class recited together in such a ‘wonderfully upbeat tone.’

“Whoa, calm down,” Mr. Shaw said sarcastically, standing in front of the white board while the projector was warming up. “I know you’re all egar, but jeez. Not all at once.” He sat down at his desk, pulling out a tin can that was filled with popsicle sticks that have everyone’s name on one. Every week everyone got a list of what topics were going to be discussed on a certain day, the students had to be prepared to discuss current events that corresponded with the topic for that day. “Let’s see who goes first…” He shook the tin can up to randomize the popsicle sticks. He pulled out one without looking. “Jacob,” he looked up, “you’re up, Jake.”

Riley watched her friend get up from his desk with his notebook as he made his way over to the computer, typing in the link to the current event topic that he had chose to talk about.

“We’ve been told all our lives that ‘good cholesterol is the key to a healthy, happy heart,’” Jake started to announce his assignment, “with more and more research, especially studies that are being conducted from the University of PGS, it is slowly being questioned if cholesterol is actually that big of a deal. They have concluded that methods of measuring HDL levels are extremely inaccurate, and having high levels of HDL isn’t as bad as we once thought. Thank you.”

The class began to clap at the end of his small presentation. Jake stood in front of the class, since at the end of every presentation the class had to ask a few questions to gain participation points. Since Jake was Riley’s friend, she loved to pick on him during the question portion of the assignment.

She raised her hand with her pen still in her hand in the middle of blowing another bubble. Jake pointed at her, his way of calling on someone.

Riley put the gum back in her mouth. “So, what were the research methods they used to conduct these studies? You didn’t say anything about that.” A small smirk was dancing on her lips when Jake just glared at her.

“Um… well… They…” another rule of the presentation was that students couldn’t go back and reread anything on the article since they were supposed to take notes and memorize whatever they picked. “The research methods they used was done on women who were transitioning to postmenopausal stage of their lives since during that time their HDL’s could be extremely high.”

“Well, there are a lot of variety of women in the postmenopausal stage, which type of women were they?”

“Riley…” Mr. Shaw started, seeing that she was trying to be a smartass.

Jake cleared his throat. “They were at least 10 years into their postmenopausal period.”  

Riley placed her feet on the floor, leaning forward. “Okay, but what about-”

“Ms. Malcolm, that’s enough. You’ve earned full participation points for today,” Mr. Shaw added, rubbing his forehead. “Thank you Jake, you’ve earned a 10 out of 10. I was going to give you a 8.5 out of 10, but… Riley was making things difficult.” As Jake walked back to his desk, he and Riley high-fived each other. “Ms. Malcolm, you’re up next.”

“What?! That’s not fair, you didn’t pick a stick! That’s always been the law of the land!”

“That’s what happens when you’re a smart aleck.” He motioned for Riley to sit at the computer chair in front of his computer. “C’mon, lets get it over with.”

Groaning, Riley took her notebook up with her, typing the URL into the box to pull up her topic. “I like things that make no sense. I also like mysteries. That’s why this was the perfect topic for today. Ta-da! I will be talking about: pills!”

“P-...Pills?” Mr. Shaw repeated, his hand underneath his chin.

“Yes! Pills! Does the color of pills matter? Turns out, it does!”

“I’m… intrigued. Go on.”

“Turns out that every single pill is color coated and has a meaning. Blue pills are mostly sedatives-which calms the brain and helps sleep. Red and orange pills are mostly stimulants- pills that temporarily increase alertness and energy. Yellow pills are mostly antidepressants, and any pills in bright colors, with their brand names, or both are said to be stronger. Basically, the placebo effect is strong, so knowing this information could trick our brains into thinking whatever color the pills are will do whatever the colors are listed as.” Riley stood up, walking to the front of the classroom for the question portion. “Any questions?” She asked the class, her hands behind her back. The class was silent, until Jake raised his hand. “Jake.”

“You just jumped around, what do you mean the placebo effect?”

“Y’know, the placebo effect is just our minds thinking that pills are doing what they’re supposed to, but really they’re just sugar pills. If we know what color pill does what then our brains will think… okay, okay, let me give an example, uh…” Riley thought about it for a minute. “Okay, got it. Lets say your doctor says they’ve prescribed you Zoloft, but really it’s just a placebo pill. 100mg with a name brand embedded on the pill. If you know this information, you’ll think that, one; yellow pills are antidepressants, and two; it’s a bright color with a brand name on it, so you’ll believe it’s extremely strong, but in reality, your doctor prescribed you a placebo. Boom. Placebo effect. Anymore questions?” The class was silent again, so Riley turned to face Mr. Shaw who was standing by his desk.

“Great job, Riley. 10 out of 10.”  

* * *

The rest of the school day went by normally; after Current Events, Riley then went to Mr. Collins’ Physic class, then to Trigonometry, lunch in the Physics classroom where the Decathlon team always met up for their meetings and lunch, Environmental Science, then, her favorite class, Debate. After school, Riley went back to the Physics classroom since the team had meeting/practice mostly everyday after school. They were one win away in the state to make it to the Nationals. Along with Riley and Jake, there were seven other members in the Decathlon team: their captain, Aubrey Hart, Kylie Fisher, Mia Philips, Luke Murray, Anthony Wright, Isaac Bennett, and Kayla Ford while Mr. Collins was their leader.

The team was talking amongst themselves, waiting for Mr. Collins to come back from the teachers lounge. Aubrey was expressing how hyped up she was for their next match, once they beat Bear Mountain they would move on to the Nationals. That was her chance to give everyone a pep talk.

“We’ve worked so hard for this moment, guys. We have the chance to go into  _ Nationals _ ! That’s what we’ve been working for almost a year, we put a lot of study time into this and countless sleepless nights. We can do this! I believe in all of us!”

“I’m here!” Mr. Collins announced as he walked into the door with about 15 blue pieces of paper in his hand. “This just got dropped off for us. Gather around, children.” Everyone sat in the desks in the first row of the classroom as he pulled out his computer chair to sit in front of them. “To encourage us, the State of California has decided that whoever wins the match next week gets a free trip to Jurassic World.”

The majority of team was extremely hyped up about that, they were cheering, saying that they could do it. Except Riley. The news made her heart race from slight anxiety. She remembered all the stories that her parents had told her about the original Jurassic Park on Isla Nublar, and then the stories from Site B. Her mother liked telling her all of what happened on Site B, apparently she was there with her dad and her half-sister Kelly. Her dad never liked talking about Jurassic Park too much, giving only small details of what happened there. Riley’s favorite story had to be when Kelly killed a raptor by only what she learned to do in her gymnastics team at school before they cut her from the team. Her parents told her about how when someone stole a T-Rex baby the daddy T-Rex followed them back to the mainland, destroying San Diego all for its baby. Riley only laughed, thinking that they were just trying to scare her, it wasn’t until she was nine when she decided to Google it, sure enough, there were thousands of news coverage on the whole thing. It may sound strange, but as much as Riley loved dinosaurs, she wasn’t 100% sure she wanted to go on this trip.


	2. Conflicted

Back at home in the main living room, Riley was sitting on the worn out couch with her textbooks scattered about, her notebook on her lap with an earbud only in her left ear so she could still hear the world around her while still trying to focus on what was in front of her. All she wanted to do was study for the Decathlon, but she couldn’t even do that. Her mind wandered itself over to dinosaurs, the images that her brain painted that would fit the stories her family had told her about their experiences at the islands. It was a weird feeling, apart of Riley really, really, really wanted to go because she loved dinosaurs and science, so this would be an amazing trip to go on, but another part of her was scared of what could happen while she would be there. The dinosaurs could get out and kill everyone there… Where did Riley read it at? That Jurassic World was the most secure park in the world. It kinda had to be, especially since they had around twenty years to tweak everything. 

Even with one earbud out, Riley was too deep in thought, so she didn’t even hear her dad calling for her from the blue room. Ian walked into the main living room with the stack of mail he just got out of the mailbox.

“Riley,” Ian tried again, but she was still zoned out. He gave her knee a light smack with the mail, bringing her back into reality. 

“What?” She asked him.

“I said dinner is ready, ya freak. Take a break from studying for once in your life.”

Riley narrowed her eyes. “I do more than just study, Dad.”

“Psh. Chewing gum doesn’t count as an activity.”

Riley pushed her notebooks and textbooks off of her lap to the stained carpet floor, following her dad to the dining table on the other side of the living room. Ian stepped up into the kitchen to help Sarah carry the food from there to the dining table. Riley sat at her normal spot, the dining chair that sat in front of the glass sliding door waiting for food to be served. Tonight they were having ham, mashed potatoes, and corn. It wasn’t often that they would have a nice meal like this, but Sarah thought it would be nice to make a special dinner since the Decathlon was tomorrow. Ian filled both Sarah’s and Riley’s plates before getting his own.

Even though it was dinner time and there was family conversation, Riley still couldn’t focus on whatever they were talking about. She was leaning on her elbow, hand on her cheek, pushing her corn around with her fork staring at the center of the table lost in thought. Sarah noticed how distant she was acting, it was abnormal, normally she and Ian were going back and forth making sarcastic remarks at each other, laughing and making jokes. Sarah looked at Ian who looked back at her, they were having a silent conversation about what could be wrong with their daughter. 

Sarah put a hand over Riley’s that was pushing the fork around the entire plate. “Is something wrong, hun?” 

That got Riley’s attention, she straightened herself up in her chair. All she did was chuckle in response, trying to think of how to answer that. Apart of her wanted to tell her about the possible trip to Jurassic World, but another part of her wanted to keep it to herself since she didn’t know how her dad would react. It was likely that Sarah would jump on the chance to go see some dinosaurs again, but Ian would most likely be a mess about it. Everytime something about dinosaurs appeared on the news or even the mention of dinosaurs sent him into a panic attack, there was something else that he had but Sarah didn’t want to tell Riley much of Ian’s medical conditions, she didn’t want her to be afraid of dinosaurs since what they went through would be totally different than whatever would happen at Jurassic World. 

“Heh, just, uh… I’m just stressed out about the Decathlon. They added a surprise extra so I have to study a little more than I planned to,” she finally answered, looking up at her parents before scooping some corn into her mouth. 

Ian was studying her for moment. Finally, he pointed at her. “You are a terrible liar.”

Riley was stunned, she had believed that she was convincing enough for them to not question her. “How the hell did you know?”

“You’re too much like me.” 

Sarah reached over, pinching Riley’s right cheek. “Looks like you too,” she added with a huge smile on her face. “Seriously, what’s really wrong?”

Riley shrugged. “Just nervous for the Decathlon on Saturday. It’s our last one until Regionals.”

“Hun, you have no reason to be nervous. You and the team are extremely smart, I mean, you guys haven’t lost this year yet, have you?” Riley couldn’t help but smile, looking down at her plate. 

“I have a-a question for you,” Ian added, pointing his fork at her. 

“No,” was all Riley said.

“Yes. What’s an isotonic solution?”

“It’s a solution with the same amount of water and solutes inside and outside the cell.”

He smiled. “See? Nothing to be worried about. It’s science, it’s right up your alley.”


	3. Study Time

It was Friday, meaning that they only had today to study after school since tomorrow they were going up to Bear Mountain to have their final showdown with Bear Mountain: School of the Arts. Just for the fun of it being the last day for practice, Mr. Collins had pushed all the desks in his classroom to the back of the room and managed to borrow an extra lunch table from the cafeteria to act as the table that they team used at the actual Decathlon. As an added fun bonus: Mr. Collins managed to find some buzzers in his classrooms back closet. He wanted to make it as realistic as possible. Today was different, they were all staying after school for two hours to practice for this. They wanted to win this, not just for the Jurassic World trip, but for the glory of getting into Nationals. 

Riley and Jake walked into the Physics classroom, surprised at how all out Mr. Collins actually went. Sure they’ve practiced every time before a Decathlon, but never like this. Riley sat at the end of the table, kicking her feet up as she always did whenever she sat down anywhere with Jake sitting to her left. 

“Isn’t this cool?!” Mr. Collins asked the team when he walked in from the backroom, carrying the notecards with possible questions for tomorrow's Decathlon. “I was ecstatic to find these buzzers!” He picked up one to show the team. “I thought I lost these.”

“Oh yeah, every man would love to find unknown buzzers in their closets,” Riley said casually with a smirk on her face. 

“And where would we be without Riley’s sarcastic comments?” Mr. Collins added, sitting on his desk while shuffling the flashcards. “Nowhere, that’s where.” Riley snapped her fingers in agreement, pointing at her teacher. “And where would we be without our amazing Captain: Aubrey, and our amazing team? Well, we wouldn’t be here. Shall we get started?” 

Mr. Collins kept reading off questions from the flashcards, the team was answering them fluently with ease, the questions weren’t simple, not like something you would know just by taking basic Biology or basic Chemistry. You actually had study really hard with the materials that the Decathlon provides for the teams. Riley wasn’t the type of person who answer questions out loud, she never was, she didn’t like answering questions in class, even if she knew the answer. The teachers always claimed it was because she was shy, Riley didn’t like being called shy since she felt as though that trait didn’t apply to her. Riley’s dad was her hero, she wanted to be just like him, from what she had seen online he was comfortable talking in front of a crowd of people, she just couldn’t bring herself to do it too often if it wasn’t for a grade. 

“Alright, one more then we’re gonna have a snack break,” Mr. Collins announced, looking at the next flashcard in his hand. “‘Explain Chaos Theory.’” 

It was hard for the team to  _ not  _ look at Riley, considering the fact that they all knew who her dad was. They assumed that she knew everything about Chaos Theory because of her dad. They assumed correctly. Since she was able to comprehend things as a toddler, Ian tried explaining Chaos Theory to her. Sarah always thought that it would be a waste of time since she would’ve only be three at the time, but Ian didn’t think so. He would explain it the simplest way he knew how; using water on the hand, asking which way the water would fall. It was the same  method that he used to show Dr. Ellie Sattler while they toured Jurassic Park together. While it did take Ian a couple of demonstrations for the theory to click in Riley’s mind, but once she understood it and she was older, that’s when he started explaining Chaos Theory in more technical terms. 

Glancing to her left, Riley noticed that nobody else on the team wasn’t going to answer, she couldn’t tell if it was because they didn’t know what the answer was, or because they wanted her to answer it. It didn’t make sense since Chaos Theory was technically in the math spectrum, but some people could see it as a science term.  Well, if nobody else was going to answer it… 

Riley placed her feet back on the floor, leaning forward, resting her arms on the table. “Chaos Ther-”

“Ah, ah,” Mr. Collins interrupted her, holding up a hand, “use the buzzer.” Riley could only blink at her teacher, she couldn’t believe that he was actually going to make her use the buzzer when nobody else was going to answer. Mr. Collins motioned towards the buzzer that was sitting in front of Riley. Using a single finger, Riley pushed on the red buzzer. “Riley,” Mr. Collins answered. 

She couldn’t help but give a nervous smile. “Right, okay. Chaos Theory, uh, looks at all the small possible changes in a sensitive situation. If that small change occurs in a chaotic system then the outcome could be, uh, extremely different than once anticipated.”

“Very good, Riley, but there’s another part. ‘Is Chaos Theory a mathematics or a scientific theory?’”

Riley chuckled, scratching the back of her hand. “Uh, technically it’s apart of mathematics, but one could argue it’s apart of both.”

“That’s correct. Snack break, everyone.” Everyone started to get up from the lunch table, stretching their legs and heading towards the back of the room where the snacks were normally kept. “Oh, Riley, can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Uh, sure?”

Mr. Collins waited for everyone to be in the back before speaking with her. “Considering your parents connections with dinosaurs, do you think they would be interested in being chaperones for the trip if we end up going?” 

Riley shrugged. “I know my mom would be down with it, she loves dinosaurs. I dunno about my dad though, but I can talk to them about it.” 

“I appreciate it, if they decide to have them sign this.” Mr. Collins gave her a pink piece of paper, the generic chaperon slip that they handed out to any class trip. 

This was going to make for an interesting dinner conversation.


	4. Academic Decathlon

It was hard to sleep last night, Riley was too riled up about the Decathlon tomorrow afternoon. Not that she had a real reason to be nervous, but jeez, if they won this one, they would go to Nationals and Jurassic World. For free. Although she promised Mr. Collins that she would talk to her parents about being chaperons for the possible trip, she didn’t even bring it up. She would feel awful if she brought it up and her dad went into a panic and they didn’t even end up going. It would be too much emotional struggle for him to deal with. In fact, Riley threw it away in the schools outside trash can just before she got into her dad’s car to go home. If they won, they won. That’s when she would decide whether or not she’ll be joining the rest of her team. 

The worst decision that Riley made was agreeing to be apart of the Decathlon’s group chat on her phone. Her phone would blow up with texts are request to do a video chat with the rest of the team. The team made sure to blow up her phone at certain times to make sure that she was awake and getting around to go, if she wasn’t there then they wouldn’t participate, those were the rules.

It was one in the afternoon on Saturday, not her alarm, not even her parents had attempted to wake her up yet, the only reason she woke up was her phone going off every five seconds. Riley forced opened one eye, staring at her phone hoping that it would stop going off from text messages, but it didn’t. The Decathlon started at 3:30 and it took an hour to get to Bear Mountain, so the team wanted to make sure she would be awake since they knew she went to bed extremely late and mostly showed up late for everything else. 

Picking up her phone, Riley texted the group back that she was awake and about to get out of bed so maybe they would calm down with the texts. There were a collection of ‘Good Mornings’ from the group chat. Riley left her phone in her bedroom as she slumped her way down the hallway, through the blue room, to the main living room of the house where Ian was sitting on the couch watching something on the TV.

“You’re alive!” He said jokingly with a smile on his face. Riley hung her head back behind her shoulders, holding her arms out like a stereotypical zombie, groaning as she walked towards the couch. “I dunno if I should say you’re up late or early,” he commented as she plopped down next to him. 

“I was up late studying for today,” she answered, rubbing her eye with the back of her hand, letting out a yawn. 

“I can tell. You guys will be fine.” He pat her back to show some type of encouragement.

“Uh-huh… Yeah, yeah, she’s right here, hold on,” Sarah was speaking into the cordless landline phone, walking from the kitching to the living room holding out the phone to Riley, who had no idea who it was. 

“City morgue, you kill ‘em, we chill ‘em. Riley speaking.” Ian lightly smacked her arm. 

“You should start a business, you already have a slogan,” it was Kelly on the other end of the line, letting out a small laugh.

Riley’s eyes lit up. “Hey, Kelly. What’s up? How’s college?”

“It’s goin’ fine. Exam are coming up so I’ve been studying my ass off. I was just calling to wish you good luck at the Decathlon today. I’m really sorry I can’t be there, exams and all. You would not believe how many classes you need to take for Aquatic Biology.” 

“Hm… five classes?”

“Funny. Well, I’ll let you go so you can get ready to go.”

“Thanks for calling. Did you want to talk to Dad?”

“Yeah. I love you, loser.”

“Love you too, nerd.” Riley passed the phone over to Ian. “I’m ready to suffer!” She shouted, throwing her arms up in the air. “Whoo!” 

“Get dressed!” Sarah called after her as she hopped up into the blue room.

Riley got dressed her usual attire, black skinny jeans, her bracelets, black socks, black converse, but instead of wearing a dark shirt with something on it, she just wore a black t-shirt to make it more ‘formal.’ She stared at herself in the mirror. What if in a few hours she was going to be told that she was going to Jurassic World? Maybe she would just never tell her parents about the trip and she could just tell the team that she was sick and couldn’t make it. One step at a time. 

“I am ready!” Riley announced as she stepped back into the living room. 

Sarah stepped in front of Riley, brushing the leftover lent that was left on her shirt. “You are so much like your dad.” 

Riley looked down at her clothes then shrugged. “Mom, I only wear black and gray. They’re appropriate for any occasion.”

Sarah ruffled her hair. “That’s true. Very true.” She kissed Riley’s cheek before letting her go. “Ian! Are you ready yet!” She called as she walked through the kitchen to find him. 

* * *

 

As soon as the Malcolm’s got in the car, Riley pulled out the flashcards from her backpack that she brought along. Along with that, she made sure that she brought extra packs of gum for the trip. It eases her anxiety, and Lord knows how much anxiety she was having over this. To level up the group chat, Riley texted them that they just got on the highway so they would be at Bear Mountain in about an hour. Not even five minutes after she sent that text when Aubrey started an all team video chat so they could practice during the hour long trip. 

“‘Explain Chaos Theory,’” Aubrey read off a random flashcard she picked from the pile. 

Nobody said anything, they were waiting for Riley to answer it again. She opened her mouth to speak, but since the video chat was on speaker, Ian answered quicker than Riley could.

“‘Chaos Theory deals with nonlinear things that are effectively, uh, impossible to predict or control, like turbulence, weather, the stock market, our brain states, and so on. These phenomena are often described by fractal mathematics, which, uh, uh, captures the infinite complexity of nature.’”

Riley just looked at him from the backseat, stunned that he was able to answer faster than her brain could even process the question. “They weren’t asking for that complicated answer, professor,” she told him sarcastically. “Chaos Th- y’know what, never mind, it was already answered.” She kicked the back of Ian’s chair playfully. 

Thankfully there wasn’t any traffic on the highway, if there was, then Riley would be late, no doubt about it. It was extremely rare that she was on time for anything, but since today was the final Decathlon for their state she kinda had to be on time. Besides, if she did end up being late, her team and Mr. Collins would probably never forgive her. The rest of the team was standing outside waiting for Riley to show up, so when they saw her pull up  _ on time  _ there were all surprised, they even started making jokes about it. Thankfully Riley could take a joke, hell, if someone was late for any of their meetings she would say something along the lines of: “Hey, I’m the only one who is allowed to be late around here.”

Once Ian parked his car, he got out and opened Riley’s door. He would open Sarah’s door, but she didn’t like having doors opened for her. It was an independence thing, it took Ian a long time to break the habit of trying to open doors for her, but he learned better, pushing it on his daughters instead. As they began to walk up to the school, Ian grabbed onto Sarah’s hand, swinging it lightly as they walked. 

“You’re on time!” Aubrey told Riley happily, throwing her arms around her neck in a hug. Riley just held her arms at her side as she wasn’t really a hugging person. “I mean… I  _ assumed  _ you would be on time,” she added after she released from the hug. 

“Never assume I’ll be on time. I just like to mix things up a little bit,” Riley answered with a shrug. “Besides, if my mom didn’t come I would’ve been late.” 

Everyone else on the team had nice formal clothes on, while Riley was just wearing all black. Eh, it was the same thing. Thankfully when they went inside they had some time to practice before it was time to start the Decathlon. Ian and Sarah sat in the front row of where the Decathlon would take place, they sat at the end where the aisle splits. 

“Okay, if Chaos Theory comes up I think we should let Riley answer,” Aubrey declared, looking up from the flashcards that she was just reading to her team. 

“Why? Chaos Theory isn’t that hard to understand,” Riley replied through her gum before blowing a bubble. 

“You can answer it faster than us. Quick question, is Chaos Theory mathematics or science?”

“Mathematics. Trick question. Bam.” She threw finger guns at her in a dorky way. 

“Correct.”

The announcement that the Decathlon was starting went over the schools PA system. All the kids from both schools went to the stage where there were two long tables that were like the lunch table in Mr. Collins’ room during practice and everyone had their own buzzers so they could answer questions. The auditorium was packed with teachers, parents, and even some politics stopped by to watch the Decathlon. This was going to be interesting. 

* * *

 

After an hour, the two teams were tied, one more correct answer and that would break the tie and that would be the end. From the side stage, Mr. Collins noticed Riley’s parents sitting in the front row, since he didn’t hear anything back from Riley about the possible trip they would be taking, he decided to go ask them himself. After getting off the stage, he ducked down as he was walking past the other audience members so he wouldn’t disturb them. He knelt down next to Ian, who had his legs and arms crossed as he was sitting back in his seat. 

“Dr. Malcolm,” he said in a quiet tone, getting both his and Sarah’s attention. “Sarah. I was wondering if Riley talked to you guys about the trip yet.”

Ian looked at Sarah who looked at him in return, both looking confused then back to Mr. Collins. “Uh… what trip?” 

“So, the State of California has promised the winning team a trip to Jurassic World before they go to Nationals. I asked Riley to ask if you two wanted to possibly be chaperons on the trip if the team wins.”

Before either of them could answer his question, the last question was being asked. 

“Explain Chaos Theory,” the female judge read off the flashcard she was holding. 

Riley made brief eye contact with her parents before reaching over to press the buzzer. It was a shock to hear the other team press the buzzer before she could even touch her own. She looked over at the person who pressed their buzzer, the girl smiled, it was clear that she knew the answer. Riley let out a sigh, sitting back in her seat feeling defeated. Well, she didn’t have to worry about telling her parents about the Jurassic World trip now. 

“Chaos Theory finds all the changes in a situation, if there are any unknown changes it could change the anticipated outcome,” the girl answered, the smile on her face grew bigger.

“That is correct. There is another part to this question: what subject does Chaos Theory take place in?”

“Science.” 

The judge slowly shook her head, a small smile on her face. “I’m sorry, that is incorrect. SciTech? Your turn to answer. If you answer correctly you will be going to Nationals.”  

Riley pressed the buzzer, ready to answer the question correctly. The judge nodded at her, telling her to go ahead and answer. “Chaos Theory looks at all the small possible changes in a sensitive situation. If that small change occurs in a chaotic system then the outcome could be, uh, extremely different than once anticipated.”

“That is correct. What subject does Chaos Theory take place in?”

“While a lot of people believe that it’s science, which could, uh, y’know, be debated, it’s technically mathematics.” 

“That is correct. Congratulations, SciTech, you are going to Nationals!” 

Everyone in the audience clapped and cheered. Everyone on SciTech’s team stood up from their chairs, cheering, but Riley who stay seated. She was looking down at the table, smiling. Aubrey hugged her, following with everyone else turning it into a group hug. Her smile quickly faded when she realized that they were now going to Jurassic World. 


	5. A Long Drive Home

Not long after their announcement that they were going to Nationals, the SciTech team was now heading back home to celebrate. The team was all huggy and Riley didn’t like that, but since they were so happy about winning so she dealt with so she wouldn’t bring their mood down. So when she was able to get back in the car to go back home it made her relieved. Sarah was asking her if she was excited about Nationals, of course, Riley gave the generic “of course I am.” It was out of character for Ian since he wasn’t saying much of anything.

She was silent as they pulled onto the highway, she was staring out the window lost in her thoughts. Riley had decided that she was going to pretend to be sick the day of their trip to Jurassic World. She didn’t know much about her dad’s medical condition that her mom kept saying that he had after his visit to the original Jurassic Park, but she didn’t want him to think about dinosaurs anymore if she could prevent it. Besides, going to Jurassic World wouldn’t be  _ that  _ cool… Besides, she wouldn’t even be able to pet them or ride them, so what would be the point? 

Sarah finally let out a sigh, she turned around in her seat to look at Riley in the backseat. “Is there anything on your mind, Ri?” She asked her with a small smile on her face.

Riley squinted at her, trying to figure out what she was hinting at. “Um… no? Why? Do you?”

Ian didn’t say anything, he just reached over his shoulder, holding out a pink piece of paper to Riley. She took it, skimming over whatever it was, groaning when she realized that it was another copy of the chaperon sheet that Mr. Collins have given her the day before. 

“You didn’t want to bring up the trip to Jurassic World?” Ian asked her, he didn’t sound happy or mad, but indifferent. 

“Yeesh…” Riley breathed. She shrugged. “Hey, what if we didn’t win? That would be a lot of unnecessary stress, right? That, and I was 100% sure you guys would’ve said no anyways.” 

“Are you kidding?” Sarah started, a smile on her face. “You know how much I want to go to Jurassic World.”

“Uh, I still think the whole thing is a bad idea,” Ian admitted, his eyes locked on the road. “It was a bad idea back in the 90’s, it’s a bad idea now. Nothing’s changed.”

“Nothing’s changed?” Sarah countered, “with all the technology that’s out right now you still wanna say that nothing’s changed? Seriously, haven’t you heard that Jurassic World is the most secure park in the world?” 

“Um, yeah, it kinda has to be, hun. Considering the fact that, uh, it’s filled with dinosaurs that are hell bent on killing everyone.” Sarah smacked his arm, causing him to jump and look at her. “What was that for?”

“Herbivores don’t want to kill anyone, you know that.”

“Well, uh, you’re gonna have to excuse me for not being on board with the whole ‘dinosaurs are gentle creatures.’” Sarah couldn’t help but roll her eyes, she knew what had happened to him during his first experience, but he had to understand that not everything out there was going to try to kill people. “You’re being quiet, what’d I do?” 

“You really think  _ all  _ dinosaurs are that way?”

“Obviously not, but they’re caged, and if they wanted to break free they’d do anything that they can to get out. Even if that means some herbivores need to kill for once in their lives.”

“They’ve been opened since 2004, Ian. They haven’t had any serious incidents since they’ve opened. What does that tell you?” 

“Sarah, I don’t really want to get into this argument again with you.”

“It’s not an argument, it’s a debate. There’s a difference.”

“I’m not even sure if I want to go anyways,” Riley blurted out, making them stop their argument immediately. It wasn’t like her to say something like that since she was just as into dinosaurs as Sarah was. 

“Wh-what do you mean?” Ian started, looking at her through the rearview mirror. “You love dinosaurs and science, why wouldn’t you want to go? It’s something you’d be highly interested in.”

“What? Did your dad’s stories scare you?” Sarah teased.

“No way!”

“Ian, are you  _ really  _ afraid of caged dinosaurs with the highest security on the planet?”

“No… No, if you’re going then I’m going.”

Riley couldn’t help but smirk. “Now  _ that’s  _ Chaos Theory.” 


End file.
